The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued a series of recommendations to help integrate refugees in Europe with the aim of enabling them to become productive members of society whether they stay or return home.

Southeast Asian nations and the European Union have agreed to start free trade talks, and a leading U.S. semiconductor maker says it will invest $1 billion in the Philippines. Claudia Blume at VOA's Asia News Center has more on these and other business stories from the region.

A dispute about the relocation of the Soviet War monument led to angriness of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who said Monday that the U.N. and NATO were conniving at disrespect the memory of Soviet soldiers and seeking to rewrite history.

The EU pressed Russia to reinforce protection of the Estonian embassy in Moscow for it has been besieged by activists protesting the decision to remove the World War II memorial from center of Tallinn.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has submitted a formal proposal to parliament to hold early general elections on June 24, answering an opposition call to disband the current parliament and hold a new vote.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged President George W. Bush to step up dialogue with Russia over a planned U.S. missile defense system. The comments, during a U.S.-European Union summit at the White House, followed the chancellor's praise over the weekend of greater U.S. efforts to consult Russia over its plans to install a radar system and interceptors in Eastern Europe as part of the system.

The World Trade Organization established a panel Tuesday to examine India's import duties on European wines and spirits. The panel will examine whether wine and liquor restrictions in a number of Indian states comply with international trade rules.

Nuclear talks between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will resume on April 25.

After the reports that Taliban insurgents used Iranian-made weapons against NATO forces appeared, the U.S. will control the Iran's involvement in Afghanistan. Richard Boucher, assistant U.S. secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told reporters that Washington would like Iran to continue its previous "generally positive role" in reconstruction in neighboring Afghanistan.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says Brussels will not take sides in Ukraine's political crisis and urges both parties to seek compromise. Barroso was speaking after meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in Brussels.

The United States, Russia, and the European Union are urging calm and compromise in Ukraine as the political crisis there intensifies. The United States called on Ukraine's rival political forces to respect the rule of law and urged that disputes be resolved nonviolently.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner says positive changes have taken place in Turkmenistan since the December 2006 death of president Saparmurat Niyazov.